Marimba mallets
- 1. All You Need to Know About: Mike Grosek Music Products Seminar Spring 2012
- 2. Every marimba player has a variety of mallets. The basic mallet is made of a wood or rattan shaft, a hard core, and yarn wrapping around the core. There are many different hardness and sizes to choose from.
- 3. Hard rubber core Shaft Soft yarn/cord wrap
- 4. 2 mallet sets/4 mallet sets Concert/Ensemble Generally offer a full rich sound to be heard throughout the ensemble Solo/Signature Specified to fit needs of an individual performer or piece of music.
- 5. Outdoor - designed to withstand the demanding playing and environmental requirements of outdoor performance. Latex covered the core is wrapped in a latex to produce a perfectly blended sound. Universal A general mallet that can be used for many basic needs on various instruments.
- 6. Birch tonewood. Used for mallets, guitars, speaker cabinets, and drum shells. Maple tonewood. Used for string instruments, bassoons, guitars, and drums. Brighter/Harder than Mahogany.
- 7. Rattan is the name for the roughly 600 species of palms native to tropical regions of Africa, Asia and Australasia. A flexible vine-like structure that winds through other vegetation. Plants have slender stems usually 2-5 cm diameter.
- 8. Two-Stage Fiberglass Handles (C) are extremely durable and characteristically indestructible. It makes a perfect mallet for outdoor performance. (mikebalter.com)
- 9. Usually a rubber ball with variations in size and hardness. The latex covered mallets have the core wrapped in a layer of latex.
- 10. Variations in the outer wrap will determine the hardness/volume of the mallet. Yarn covered will have a more rounded sound, as the cord wrapped will have more attack and articulation. Different colors are used to distinguish the hardness, but are not uniform among manufacturers.
- 11. There are varying sizes in the diameter of the core, and the length of the shafts. A larger core will create a more rounded sound, as a smaller core will cut through and have more attack. The length of the shafts can make it easier to play some compositions, comfort of player.
- 13. Selecting the shafts.. Using a digital caliper, and sort the shafts by diameter. Mallets are made in batches, and any given batch is made of shafts of like diameter to help ensure that each pair of mallets has equally flexible, equal diameter handles for a balanced feel.
- 14. Selecting the Shafts Mallet smiths test the durability of the dowels by carefully bending the dowels by hand. They determine if a dowel is too weak or flexile to be used. After checking for straightness by rolling the dowels on a flat surface, they discard any bent dowels. This process helps ensure that consumers receive strong and straight handles for long, reliable use.
- 15. Grinding and Coating the Handles After handles pass the initial quality check, they are ground at the head end to allow for the easy combination of the cores and shafts. Rattan shafts are also ground at the hand end to allow for extra comfort in the hands.
- 16. Grinding and Coating the Handles Some shafts are given a thin coat of Sure Grip spray to protect the mallet from moisture damage often incurred by sweat and humid environments. Other shafts remain raw to maintain the feel of naked birch.
- 17. Gluing handles to Inner Cores Inner cores and shafts are combined through the process of glue. Mallet smiths use different glues fro different cores to ensure a strong bond between the cores and handles.
- 18. Latex Wrapping the Inner Core & The Creation of the Outer Core The inner cores are hand wrapped with strips of latex. Through this process, mallet smiths are able to directly control the weight, density, and hardness of each mallet. It is through this skilled application of latex that Encore Mallets, Inc. is able to create mallet series with fine gradations of hardness and an almost endless array of sound color.
- 19. Yarn Wrapping the Core Encore Mallets are wrapped with fine acrylic, wool, cotton, or nylon yarn. Yarn composition and color are important considerations in mallet design. Encore chooses yarns in cooperation with its artists to achieve their specific sound desires and to ensure easy mallet identification.
- 20. Stitching the Mallethead A team of stitchers finish each mallet by hand by hand sewing the top and bottom of each mallet. This final stitching prevents the yarn from unraveling.
- 21. Painting the Handle Ends After the stitchers bring in a batch of mallets, the ends of rattan are hand painted. The seal created by the paint protects the mallet from moisture damage which can cause rattan to warp.
- 22. Setting/Pairing Finished Mallets Experienced percussionists assemble mallets of the same model into pairs or sets of four. Each pair or set is checked for uniform diameter, and rattan mallets are additionally checked for uniform shaft diameter and flexibility. Encore Mallets, Inc. Quality Construction (encoremallets.com)
- 23. Series: Multi-Application Virtuoso Pesante Ney Rosauro Signature Van Sice Signature Giff Howarth Signature Ensemble Corpsmaster Corpsmaster Andrew Markworth Signature American Custom
- 24. Series: Soloist David Friedman Ludwig Albert Fundamental James Ancona William Moersch Anders Astrand Dan Moore Jim Casella Ochestral Janis Potter Robin Engelman Tom Rarick Ensemble James Ross New Ensemble Jerry Tachoir Field She-e Wu Mark Ford Nebojsa Zivkovic
- 25. Series: Latex Covered Chorale Universal Ensemble Ultimate Performing Artist Contemporary Tradition Plus Shadow
- 26. Hand-sewn with wool/acrylic blended yarn over a latex covered rubber core. Shafts are 16 村 long birch or 15 遜 rattan.
- 28. Finest grade synthetic, rubber, cord or yarn are used for each Musser mallet and are carefully balanced fro flex, weight, size and tonal response. Good Vibes are recognized as the worlds finest professional mallets. Two Step mallets are Mussers exclusive fiberglass handle design that is thicker near the end for well-balanced handling and thinner near the head for strong striking force. Birch handle mallets are ideal for the mallet player who prefers a straight, but firmer wood handle.